“The auditor general looks at the promises made by politicians and uses empirical data to make sure that those promises are kept,” explained Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta — who currently serves the 181st district in the state legislature and is running to become Pennsylvania’s next auditor general.
“I’m running to be the auditor general for all families and all communities,” he said. “To ensure that people get treated with dignity and respect and that the dollars that we all collectively invest with our taxes — that those dollars are spent wisely and that they’re spent in a way that targets the real concerns that people have in their daily lives.”
Kenyatta became the first openly LGBTQ+ person of color to serve in the General Assembly when he was elected to the state house of representatives in 2018. He’s currently serving his third term and is on the ballot to be reelected.
If he wins both races, a special election will be held to find a replacement for the 181st district. He doesn’t believe there will be a Republican opponent.
“An incredible woman will be chosen to replace me,” he said, noting that the district hasn’t yet been represented by a woman. “I can think of some incredible women who could step up at any time.”
Kenyatta said the auditor general should be a “watchdog for the underdog” who uses “just the cold, hard facts” to analyze if and how financial investments translate into real impact for Pennsylvanians. It will be that person’s responsibility to seek information that helps state leaders better understand the state’s spending habits — promoting accountability.
And whoever is chosen to serve in the role will have a direct impact on LGBTQ+ people across the state.
“I want people to recognize [that] data is the lifeblood of government,” he said, underlining that many state funding decisions are made by quantifying lived experiences through mathematical formulas. “You can’t manage what you don’t measure.”
While he appreciates opportunities to hear directly from constituents — learning people’s stories and carrying those anecdotes with him back to meetings in Harrisburg, Kenyatta also realizes that he doesn’t have access to every person’s personal stories. Numbers help leaders make tangible plans for addressing concerns.
“So how do we tell those stories?” he asked. “You tell those stories through big data sets, and then you break down those data sets and help policymakers be better informed.”
Kenyatta pointed out gaps in numerical data related to LGBTQ+ needs and experiences. He previously introduced legislation in an attempt to improve access to and the accuracy of those measurements — a bill called Data for LGBTQ Lives, which would have required Pennsylvania agencies to include questions about LGBTQ+ identity on forms and documents. This would allow LGBTQ+people to voluntarily disclose, ensuring more information is gathered about their lives.
He’s also partnered with Eugene DePasquale, who is running for attorney general, to commit to working together to combat hate-based violence if they’re both elected. They recently held a press conference in Erie, PA announcing their intention to create a joint task force focused on hate-based violence and anti-bullying efforts.
Kenyatta said that Pennsylvania has not reported sufficient data to NIBRS (the National Incident-Based Reporting System), which compiles information about hate-based violence in order to better understand those instances, identify patterns, and recognize who is being targeted. He noted that the data Pennsylvania police forces have submitted does not match the stories of people’s lived experiences — and particularly doesn’t match the stories of trans people.
“Why does this data matter so much? Because every year, we invest in quasi government organizations like PCCD (the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency),” he noted as an example, highlighting that numbers assist task forces in understanding how to allocate money for support services, training and various other resources.
He said he’d audit how the state handles hate crimes.
During the press conference, Kenyatta spoke about Pauly Likens, a young, trans teen from just outside of Pittsburgh who was brutally murdered and dismembered in June. District Attorney Peter Acker told a local news outlet that prosecutors will not pursue hate-crime charges because the assailant is openly gay.
“Part of what I hope an audit can do is to investigate what our training practices are. We have to understand how our law enforcement is armed with information that allows them to understand the complexity of these situations,” he explained.
“You have inner community violence that is hate-based even by people who you know broadly might be categorized together,” he said about anti-trans rhetoric and violence that comes from LGB people. “And it’s why I remain…unwilling to sit silently by as trans kids in particular endure some vicious attacks — primarily from adults, which create a permission structure for people to engage in the type of demonization that leads to violence.”
There are various types of audits that can be conducted, Kenyatta noted, to seek information about school policies, book bans, discrimination, and student experiences — and he hopes to rebuild the Pennsylvania School Audit Bureau, which his opponent Tim DeFoor disbanded, to begin that process.
“We’re playing Whack-a-Mole with things that we should have serious, unimpeachable, nonpartisan information about,” he said.
Kenyatta criticized incumbent DeFoor, whose current approach to the role hasn’t been as visible or as transparent as his predecessor, DePasquale — who was auditor general from 2013 to 2021. Kenyatta is inspired by DePasquale’s track record of constant communication and his less traditional approach to the role, which included spending recommendations that might help to mitigate gun violence — a topic Kenyatta is also passionate about.
Kenyatta is concerned about a variety of issues — jobs and dignity at work and in retirement, access to college and job training, healthcare costs and access to quality care, gun safety and anti-violence measures, roads and bridges and infrastructure, schools and educational facilities, and more.
Kenyatta, whose husband has a PhD in city and urban planning, said he wouldn’t be able to come home at night if he didn’t also love discussions about qualitative and quantitative analysis. Using numbers in this way is also part of the skills he said he’s learned during the six years he’s been in office, which include serving on finance and commerce committees.
He underlined that policymakers can only make good decisions about what to do regarding all of these matters when they have access to enough information.
“We need somebody whose entire job is to make sure that the promises made to them by politicians are promises that are kept,” he emphasized. “And I’m not talking about the way that people spend politically. We can actually measure whether or not things are getting better for people or whether or not things are getting worse.”
